GM, Ford, and Google join forces to scale up ‘virtual power plants’
Breanne Deppisch
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Major companies, including GM, Ford, Google, and solar energy producers, announced Tuesday that they would work together on a new project to establish standards for scaling up virtual power plants in the United States, an effort to help ease loads on the nation’s electric grid during periods of peak demand.
The virtual power plants pool together thousands of decentralized energy management sources, such as electric vehicle batteries or electric heaters controlled by smart thermostats, to help grids remain supplied during periods of peak demand.
As part of the new Virtual Power Plant Partnership, also known as VP3, companies will also seek to promote policies that utilize the virtual power plant system.
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The effort will be overseen by the nonprofit group RMI.
RMI estimates that the virtual power plants can reduce peak U.S. energy demand by 60 gigawatts by the year 2030 — and, by 2050, over 200 GW.
“Virtual power plants will enable grid planners and grid operators to [better manage] growing electricity demand from vehicles, from buildings and from industry, and make sure that the grid can stay reliable even in the face of ongoing extreme weather challenges and aging physical infrastructure,” Mark Dyson, the managing director of RMI’S carbon-free electricity program, told Reuters.
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Tesla has launched similar efforts in California, Texas, Australia, and, most recently, Japan.
Its facilities consist of distributed Tesla powerwalls, organized for grid management, that allow households to get incentives for releasing solar-generated power during times of greater demand.